“Did the FBI take an investigative step based on the [Steele] dossier? Yes. The FBI took the dossier seriously based on Mr. Steele’s reputation and used some of it—without independent verification—for a narrow purpose that led to a dead-end and became a political debacle…
What was the main impact of the dossier?
Beyond its narrow role in facilitating the FBI’s wiretap of Mr. Page, the dossier’s publication had the broader consequence of amplifying an atmosphere of suspicion about Mr. Trump. Still, the dossier did not create this atmosphere of suspicion. Mr. Trump’s relationship with Russia has been a topic of significant discussion dating back to the campaign…Mr. Trump had said flattering things about Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, kept bringing on advisers with ties to Russia, had financial ties to Russia….” [NYT maintains elements of the discredited Trump-Russia hoax even as it guardedly admits the falseness of the so-called Steele Dossier and that the three-year Mueller Report found no evidence of collusion— Ed.]
“I have always defended the BBC, but can’t imagine an incident involving any other group being reported in this way. It needs to listen to people from the Jewish community and look at this very carefully. We can’t have people thinking that incidents of racism are handled differently depending on who the perpetrators and victims might be. The demonisation of Israel leads to racist attacks against Britain’s Jewish community. Our national broadcaster should be shining a spotlight on that, exposing the racists and standing up for the victims, not bending over backwards seemingly to find an equivalence where none exists.” –– former Labour MP Lord Austin writes in the Telegraph. The incident concerns the BBC’s deliberate misrepresentation of a Dec. 1st incident wherein a group of Muslims intentionally attacked a busload of Chassidic youngsters in London while they celebrated Chanukah. To show “balance”, the BBC reported on its website that an anti-Muslim slur was heard in the bus, supposedly justifying this attack. Videos taken on the bus do not indicate any such slur was made, which even if true, would have happened after the antisemitic attack. The reporter who covered this incident claims that BBC editors added this “information” to his story. (Melanie Phillips Substack, Dec. 7, 2021)
“The issue is not criticism of Israel. We need critics. …The issue is that the Reform movement does not speak enough about our people’s enemies or their threats against us. We have enemies who seek to destroy us three generations after the Holocaust. That is the root cause of the unresolved conflict: The inability or unwillingness of Israel’s enemies to accept a Jewish state within any borders.” – Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in NYC. (Times of Israel, Nov. 30, 2021)
“You know in his befuddlement Joe Biden can be very clear when he said he was a president, i.e. Fauci, … almost, God. He is more like a monarch. He’s got legislative, judicial, and executive power all in one… Fauci is mad, too, and Biden is that people … feel they didn’t treat the American people right. Fauci from the beginning just couldn’t talk about the damage the lockdown was inflicting economic, social, medical, from spousal abuse, to missed surgeries.” — columnist and classic scholar Victor Davis Hanson to Fox’s Tucker Carlson. He criticized Covid-advisor Anthony Fauci’s seemingly magisterial powers. (Real Clear Politics, Dec. 2, 2021)
“This is a battle for our culture, and, in many ways, for Western civilization. Open and free expression is what makes our country great, and if we lose this, our country is in deep trouble.”—John Craig, head of an alumni movement opposing “woke” progressive group-think at Davidson College in North Carolina. (WSJ, Nov. 30, 2021)
“Once we go down this road [the racialization of so-called hate crimes involving only white assailants and victims]. . .we may not be able to contain that racialization. Soon enough, we may find ourselves in a world of instances where black thugs killing white citizens come to be seen through a racial lens as well. This is a world no thoughtful person should welcome since there are a great many such instances.”—economist Glenn Loury, in a recent speech at the Manhattan Institute. (NY Post, Dec. 1, 2021)
THREE’S THE CHARM? ANTIGEN TESTS AGAIN REQUIRED FOR ISRAELI SCHOOLCHILDREN (Jerusalem) — The Israeli government cabinet approved a third round of antigen testing for the nation’s school children to determine whether a child is infected with COVID-19. (Jewish Press, Dec. 5, 2021)
EARLY DATA SHOWS PAST INFECTION DOES NOT WARD OFF OMICRON, BUT VACCINES EFFECTIVE (Johannesburg) — People infected with earlier variants of COVID are not protected against Omicron, although vaccination does prevent serious illness, a top South African scientist said. (Times of Israel, Dec. 2, 2021)
ARAB-ISRAELI WOMAN CONVICTED OF SPYING FOR HEZBOLLAH(Jerusalem) — Maibat Masarwa was convicted by the Lod District Court on contact with a foreign agent and passing information to an enemy after she admitted to photographing defense sites and sharing the pictures with a Hezbollah operative. (Jewish Press, Dec. 5, 2021)
ICEJ DELIVERS 36 BOMB SHELTERS TO ISRAELI TOWNS IN NORTH TO PROTECT CIVILIANS FROM ROCKET THREATS (Jerusalem) — The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is delivering 36 new portable bomb shelters to Israeli border communities. These communities are especially vulnerable to rocket and mortar fire from Gaza and Lebanon. With this development, the ICEJ has now donated a total of 161 portable bomb shelters to Israeli communities under rocket threat since 2008, with the majority (130) placed in towns along the Gaza periphery in the south and the remaining ones deployed in the north. (JNS, Dec. 1, 2021)
‘ECONOMIST’ RANKS TEL AVIV WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE CITY (Tel Aviv) — Tel Aviv is the world’s most expensive city, The Economist reported. A strong shekel and price increases for goods and services have moved Israel’s “White City” to the top spot this year—up four from 2020—replacing Paris, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from the newspaper’s sister company, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). (JNS, Dec. 1, 2021)
ISRAELI COMPANY’S SPYWARE IS USED TO TARGET US EMBASSY EMPLOYEES IN AFRICA (Uganda) — The iPhones of 11 US Embassy employees working in Uganda were hacked using spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group. The United States blocklisted the surveillance firm a month ago because the technology had been used by foreign governments to repress dissent. The hack is the first known case of the spyware, known as Pegasus, being used against American officials. There is no suggestion that NSO itself hacked into the phones, but rather that one of its clients, primarily foreign governments, had directed it against embassy employees. (NY Times, Dec. 3, 2021)
HAMAS LEADERS REACH DEAL WITH QATAR, EGYPT TO RESUME SUBSIDIZING PUBLIC SALARIES (Gaza) — Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip reached an agreement with Qatar to resume subsidizing public workers’ salaries by sending fuel. Qatar was donating to the wages of an estimated 50,000 government workers in Gaza until Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad started launching rockets towards Israeli civilian populations centers, which led to an 11-day conflict with Israel in May. (JNS, Dec. 1, 2021)
UNOFFICIAL REPORTS SAY IRAN DOWNED ‘SPY DRONE’ OVER NATANZ (Natanz) — Unofficial news reports quoted by the Iranian FARS news agency said that military personnel fired missile defenses at a “spy drone.” They heard a large explosion and saw a “bright light” in Badrud, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Natanz nuclear plant. The news agency claims Iran shot it down. (Jewish Press, Dec. 5, 2021)
IRANIAN NAVY SHIP UNDER CONSTRUCTION CAPSIZES IN DRY DOCK (Tehran) — An Iranian naval vessel which was under construction at Bandar Abbas in southern Iran has capsized in dry dock, killing one Navy personnel. Footages and satellite photos have been shared on social media since Saturday, confirming that the doomed vessel, named Talaiyeh, has capsized. This is at least the fourth incident involving the Iranian Navy in recent years. (Iran International, Dec. 6, 2021)
AT UN, 129 COUNTRIES ERASE JEWISH TIES TO JERUSALEM (NYC) — The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution erasing Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It was the most controversial of three resolutions passed together by 129-11 with 31 abstentions. The resolution also accused Israel of displacing Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan homes and conducting illegal excavations in the Old City. (United With Israel, Dec. 2, 2021)
AMID INTERNAL ANTISEMITISM SCANDAL, GERMAN PUBLIC BROADCASTER BREAKS TIES WITH ARABIC STATION OVER INFLAMMATORY ISRAEL REPORTING (Berlin). — As it continues to deal with an internal antisemitism scandal, the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) ended a cooperation agreement with a Jordanian TV station because of the presence of antisemitic and virulently anti-Zionist language and images in its social media feeds. (Algemeiner, Dec. 6, 2021)
DUTCH PARTY SEEKS CANCELATION OF ‘INHERENTLY RACIST’ HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION (Netherlands) — The Netherlands’ far-Left BIJ1 party has requested cancelation of the country’s annual Holocaust commemoration ceremony. The BIJ1 draft said it was “inherently racist” that the Netherlands doesn’t commemorate “Indonesian, Surinamese, Korean, Iraqi, etc., victims of Dutchmen (or violence supported by the Netherlands).” (United With Israel, Dec. 2, 2021)
TRUDEAU REAPPOINTS COTLER AS ENVOY TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM, FOSTER HOLOCAUST EDUCATION (Ottawa) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reappointed Irwin Cotler as Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating anti-Semitism. A renowned scholar and international human-rights lawyer, Cotler was first appointed special envoy in November 2020 following his career as a minister of justice and attorney general of Canada. He also served as a member of the Canadian parliament for the Liberal Party from 1999 to 2015. The prime minister created the position of special envoy last year. Cotler’s reappointment is for a term of up to one year. (JNS, Dec. 1, 2021)
CANADIAN UNIVERSITY POSTPONES EVENT WITH PALESTINIAN TERRORIST AMID OUTCRY FROM JEWISH GROUPS (British Columbia) — A program scheduled at the University of British Columbia on Dec. 2, was canceled. It included a talk by a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the airing of a movie that glorified a convicted terrorist. The movie was postponed. (JNS, Dec. 1, 2021)
PHILADELPHIA’S JEWISH MUSEUM CHANGES ITS NAME TO HONOR DONOR STUART WEITZMAN (Philadelphia) — On Monday night, the National Museum of American Jewish History changes its name to “The Weitzman.” The name honors benefactor Stuart Weitzman. A designer and entrepreneur, Weitzman made a fortune in the shoe business and donated to the museum for almost a decade. His latest and largest donation of an undisclosed amount allows what is now officially the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to regain its financial footing after emerging from bankruptcy earlier this year. (PBS, Dec. 6, 2021)
FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, US SENATOR, WWII VETERAN BOB DOLE DEAD AT 98 (South Carolina) — Long-time US Senator Robert Dole, who served his country for 79 years and was said by AIPAC to be a loyal supporter of Israel, died early Sunday morning in his sleep at the age of 98. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation announced his death via Twitter. A three-time presidential candidate and military veteran of World War II, Senator Dole was born in Russell, Kansas, on July 22, 1923. (Jewish Press, Dec. 5, 2021)
US POLICE TOLL AT A NEW HIGH (Washington) — The number of cops shot and killed in the line of duty across the US this year has hit a new high, the National Fraternal Order of Police revealed. According to the FOP’s latest figures, fifty-eight police officers were murdered on the job as of Nov. 30 — up from the 47 killed during 2020. In all, 314 officers have been shot in the line of duty through the first 11 months of this year, more than the 312 last year. (NY Post, Dec. 3, 2021)
US REACHES DEAL TO RESTART ‘REMAIN IN MEXICO’ PROGRAM FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS (Washington) — The Biden administration has reached an agreement with Mexico to restart a controversial Trump-era immigration policy known as Remain in Mexico. It expects to begin sending migrants back to the country on Monday while their asylum claims are considered. (WSJ, Dec. 2, 2021)
NEW EU MEASURES SET TO RESTRICT ASYLUM RIGHTS AT THE BELARUS BORDER (Brussels) — The proposal from the European Commission, which suspends some protections for asylum seekers, would extend the period that Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland would be able to detain asylum seekers while their applications are processed. Aid groups said the rule change would leave applicants in a state of limbo and increasingly unsafe conditions. (NY Times, Dec. 1, 2021)
